They answer the school phone, greet visitors, track down staff, do light filing, even scrounge around for ice packs or Band-Aids when kids need them.

But the long-standing, sought-after lunchtime office volunteer jobs given to elementary students are being cut or modified in some boards because of a province-wide program tightening security in schools.

Although seen as a way to give students responsibility — while allowing school secretaries uninterrupted breaks — the position is now under scrutiny because of the Safe Welcome Program, which provided funds for schools to install security cameras and buzz-in systems and keep their doors locked, in the wake of deadly school shootings in the U.S.

“I noticed in a couple of schools, parents raised the issue of kids adjudicating who is coming into the school or not,” said Toronto Catholic Trustee John Del Grande.

“It’s also a busy time, when parents are coming in and so on. Should we really be putting kids in the position where they are judging the people coming in and out of the school?”

Just last week, the board voted to spend $338,569 to hire adults to take on the lunchtime job starting this fall in schools that have only one full-time secretary. While the plan is still in the early stages, superintendent Rory McGuckin said for students, it means the office position will change.

In February, the York Region public board put an end to student office volunteers over similar concerns. The Peel public board says the practice is common, but staff buzz in visitors — which is also the case in the Dufferin-Peel, York Catholic and Durham Catholic boards.

“Schools with two secretaries on staff will have one secretary remain with the student volunteer, and schools with only one secretary on staff have hired an office support worker to support schools during the lunch period,” said Sonia Gallo of the York Catholic board.

Toronto mom Diane Pierik’s 11-year-old son Matthew has enjoyed volunteering for the past two years at his Catholic school, alongside friend Jackson Cooksey.

“I have often wondered about the safety issue — I know the office helpers are in charge of opening the door,” she said. However, “even though it’s lunchtime, there’s always an adult around. If they really had questions, they could grab somebody.”

Jackson’s mom Karin said the boys volunteer at lunch and during recess, and help students who’ve forgotten cutlery, or need ice packs or Band-Aids, and sometimes fold the school’s monthly newsletter.

“It would be unfortunate to lose (the program) because it gives them a good dose of responsibility,” she said.

Jackson said the lunch hour can be pretty busy, but he and Matthew were trained by other students as well as the school secretary before taking on the job.

He likes it and doesn’t want to see it end, but if it does “I wouldn’t really feel that bad. I kind of did it for the free pizza at the end of the year — and (for when) it was really cold outside.”

In York Region, students were no longer required to answer phones or buzz people in starting in February of this year, and the board allocated an extra $102,000 to cover the extra staff needed.

“In some cases, it’s shifting the schedule a little bit, in other cases we use lunch assistants,” said Licinio Miguelo, the board’s senior manager of communications. “It can either be additional hours for casual staff, or additional casual staff, depending on the situation.”

Jo-Ann Davis, chair of the Toronto Catholic board, said students who volunteer gain valuable experience, so the board must “balance the desire with providing students with a learning opportunity versus safety.”

Michael Barrett, of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, called the loss of student volunteers an “unintended consequence” of the Safe Welcome Program that “many schools are still working through.”

Education Minister Liz Sandals said some schools keep doors unlocked at recess and lunch, so buzzing in visitors isn’t an issue.

“It’s interesting, because the kids really enjoy the responsibility … it’s looked on amongst the kids as a privilege to be able to do that job and have that added responsibility.”

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